If you stare at a blank page long enough does the blog ever write itself? No? Well then I guess I’d better start. I’m Bre & I ask that you pleasepleaseplease read the following attempt with grace as I’ve sat here struggling with where to start for about a week. No joke. I guess I could start with how God led me to this crazy adventure of 11 countries in 11 months missions trip. I know right?! Sounds unbelievable to me too.
Well the seed was planted a few years ago when my mom sent me a message with the World Race website link. She knows me so well and knew that the concept of exploring new cultures, traveling abroad and loving the people while deepening my relationship with God would intrigue me. And boy did it ever! The World Race sounded incredibly perfect to me. Shortly after discovering the World Race however the doubts crept in. Thoughts like “What could you possibly offer?” & “How could you ever raise that much money?!” played on a loop in my mind. So I quickly disqualified myself and tucked this dream far away.
& when I say far away I mean it’s buried in a desk drawer covered in cobwebs, up in the attic of an abandoned house in the middle of the woods thousands of miles away kinda far. But I digress. My plan was to forget about this outlandish dream and pursue something more normal. Something more attainable. But alas God’s plans are higher than our own and no matter how far away I tried to bury that seed the Lord steadily watered and grew it until I was ready. Ready to fully submit to Him and go.
I look back on the past few years and see how God used different experiences in my life to stretch and prepare me for something better. I had wonderful periods of stretching while traveling on missions & humanitarian trips to places like Guatemala, Kenya, Haiti and Costa Rica. But I also had painful times of growth as well. Times of closed doors and unanswered prayers. Times when I felt God’s call to go but couldn’t quite make out the path to follow Him. When you have the desire to go and God tells you to wait the waiting can feel like a prison. But in that time I learned to lean on him and trust his direction in a whole new way. Completely surrendering to his will for my life and abandoning my own desires is what brings me to here. To now. To applying. To interviewing. To being accepted. To committing to the World Race. To jumping for joy & crying for joy too. To asking you to join me on this crazy journey He’s led us to.
God is saying “This. This is what I had you wait for. You’re ready now and this is my plan for you.” He has led me here and asks me to step out of my comfort zone in complete faith.
And I’m over here surrounded in my comfort zone bubble. The life I’ve built here is comfortable and safe and yet God put the desire in my heart to go and follow him so he is asking me to leave. To abandon all that makes up my comfort zone for a time. Leave my close-knit, loving and supportive family. Leave my job that I love. Leave my students that I love. Leave my coworkers that have become like a second family to me. Leave my church and my women’s group there and my Sunday school kiddos who, yep you guessed it I LOVE. Leave MY plans and dreams because in the end they are nothing compared to His plan for me.
As I jump in and abandon my comfort zones would you prayerfully consider joining me? You can follow my journey by subscribing to my blog (click the orange button under my name & picture to get an email when I update). I would also love your support – financially or through prayer.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! I know the struggle was real to get through my first blog but they can only get better. I hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
